1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a linked electrical connector, and specifically to linked electrical connectors used as plural connected electrical connectors in a common power supply circuit connected with fuses and installed in a motor vehicle. Common examples of such linked electrical connectors include joint boxes, relay boxes, and fuse boxes.
2. Description of the prior art
In an automotive fuse box as shown in FIGS. 14a and 14b, plural electrical connectors 1A, 1B and 1C (generally indicated as 1) to which fuses are separately connected are installed in individual terminal sockets 4 in the connector box 3. In each common power supply circuit, one electrical connector 1A is connected to the power supply via a wire 6, and jumpers 8 are used to short circuit (electrically connect) the one electrical connector 1A with the other electrical connectors 1B, 1C in the same power supply circuit.
As shown in FIG. 12, the common carrier 2 of the electrical connectors 1 is conventionally used for the jumpers 8.
The electrical connectors 1 are stamped from metal plate using a press, and the stamped plate is then bent and shaped to form a connector series in which the individual electrical connectors 1 formed in series at a uniform pitch are connected to a common carrier 2 at the wire crimping ends thereof.
The carrier 2 is cut appropriately so that the linked electrical connectors can be used in series of two electrical connectors 1A and 1B or three electrical connectors 1A, 1B and 1C according to the circuit design of the connector box 3.
FIGS. 12 and 13 show examples of a series of two linked electrical connectors 1A and 1B connected at the wire crimping end of the electrical connectors 1A and 1B to the carrier 2, which is then cut by a cutter 9. A series of three linked electrical connectors is similarly connected at the wire crimping end of the electrical connectors 1A, 1B and 1C to the carrier 2, which is then cut by a cutter 9.
The cut end of the carrier 2 in both the two and three linked electrical connectors series is a square end with square corners 2a. As a result, when inserted to the terminal sockets 4, or removed from the terminal sockets 4, of the connector box 3 as shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B, the square corners 2a will tend to catch the inside walls of the connector box 3 when the connectors become biased to the sides, thereby preventing smooth insertion or removal of the connectors.
As the number of electrical connectors 1 in a single series increases and a single wire must be held to insert or remove these plural connectors, it becomes even easier for the carrier 2 to become biased to the connector box 3 walls, and the square corners 2a catch even more easily.